<VV> Board of Directors Job Discription - thanks

[henry kaczmarek]

Bob
Sent to the list to see what others think!!

When I talked with Scott yesterday, he shared with me  briefly how things 
sometimes go. I won't share that here with you all, but I am sure if anyone 
interested in being a Director calls him, he will be as forthright as he was 
with me.

I certainly don't want to paint the wrong picture. I also would never want 
to make light of anyone's service on the Board, or the amount of time and 
effort they have put into keeping the club a going concern.  Several of the 
members, present as well as previous,  are very dear friends of mine (you 
included), and I have no intention of poking a finger at any of them.

There are a few people on the board who have been on it for an awful long 
time.  I believe that there is some kind of roll-off period as in you can 
serve only so many 3 year terms consecutively.  No matter how much of an 
asset any one person is to the Board, I would think it in the club's 
interest to perhaps form another group.

My high school (a Christian Brothers private school) has a board of 
directors and a Board of Governors.   The BoD is a group of mostly younger 
people (ages 22 to around 45) consisting of recent college graduates to 
alumni of about 30 years standing.  They are the group that do the actual 
day to day policy and fundraising activities for the school, etc.

The Board of Governors is a group of about 20 people who are more 
"seasoned", and are in the 55 and older group.  They stick around to make 
sure the newer, younger, and less experienced folks on the BoD don't "step 
in the dung", so to speak.  Nothing more than an advisory group. Their 
advice doesn't HAVE to be utilized, but it is there when stepping into 
territory unexplored, or not explored in some time.

Once you reach a certain age, regardless of when you were asked to join the 
board (the average age being around 30 when you join), your average 15 years 
of service to the school is appreciated, and you may be asked to join the 
board of Governors, and maybe not. Perhaps later, when one of the Governors 
passes away, you may get the call.

In discussions with former directors over the years, some felt that as long 
as "old guard" personnel are continuing to serve on the Board, substantive 
change will never take place. Not ever having been a member of the Board, 
and only knowing second hand and only in generalities what  may have gone 
on, I sure can't comment. I have my own experiences in dealing with the 
Board, and I do read the minutes as printed.

If some of our long standing board members became part of an advisory group 
to the Board, and let their long held seats become open again, the door 
would open for more people to become Directors. Different people, with 
different ideas, and different plans for how those plans could be 
implemented.

Directors might say, "well we have problems getting people to run now as it 
is"-- and that looks true.  But I can tell you now, if Seth's, Kent's, 
Dennis', or Sarah's term ended, and they were running again, I sure wouldn't 
bother to run against them. One thing I have seen for certain over 18 years 
of watching Board elections, is it isn't easy to defeat a sitting director.

As an example, when I joined CORSA in the late 80's, I believe Dave Palmer 
was President. I believe he may still  be active in the car hobby, but if 
you joined since say, 1992 you might ask, "who the hell is Dave Palmer?"  I 
don't know how long he served on the Board, but  I haven't heard the name 
more than a couple of times in the last 15 years.
Allen Bristow  became a director in the early 90's, became President, and by 
the end of the decade was gone from the board. In his case, his own business 
and starting a family likely took some precedence.  But these guys, as 
former Directors and Presidents, merely as an example would be a great 
source of advice and direction for the Club Board.

Is it time for top term limits for Directors??  Man, I ain't touchin' that 
one.  But perhaps the directors might discuss that  in among themselves. I 
doubt strongly that any current board member wears his title like a robe, 
though I have seen fiefdoms in the leadership of local chapters.   I would 
be willing to bet they all are concerned about the future of the club.  I 
wouldn't be surprised to find out that some Directors would be willing to be 
part of an advisory group to the board, and relinquish their seats when 
their time is up.  In so doing be able to keep a finger on the pulse of 
what's going on, without having to be involved in all the day to day stuff 
(could be read as BS).

Of course it's just all my opinion, and I could be wrong <G>

Regards
Hank



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Dr. Robert Hill" <dodgeshelby at earthlink.net>
To: "scott morehead" <smorehead at lycos.com>; "Virtualvairs" 
<virtualvairs at corvair.org>
Sent: Monday, February 28, 2005 9:42 AM
Subject: Re: <VV> Board of Directors Job Discription - thanks


> Gee you forgot to add the part about the BS that you have to put up with 
> :-)   Might as well give them the full blown description
>
> Bob
>